Today’s reading may seem strange in the context of Lent,
speaking as it does of circumcision and Passover celebration. However,
it picks up on the theme of hope that has been with us alongside that of
repentance in this Lenten period.

The Book of Joshua continues the themes highlighted in
the books of the Pentateuch. It brings to a conclusion the promise of land
which has been with Israel from the time of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3, 7). It
does this by telling in its first half (chs 1-12) of the entry of the Israelites
into the land of Canaan after their long time in the wilderness. While
this entry is portrayed in Joshua as a triumphant sweep into and through
the land with Joshua at the head of the united twelve tribes, we ought
not to neglect Judges 1:1-2:5 where early Israel struggles to gain control
in the promised land. Together these accounts speak of both the fulfilment
of God’s promise and the struggle such fulfilment sometimes requires.

In the second half of the book of Joshua we hear of the
distribution of the promised land among the tribes of Israel (chs 13-22).
The book then closes with Joshua exhorting the Israelites and the renewal
of the covenant (chs 23-24). In addition to the theme of the promised land,
the passage for today picks up the themes of circumcision as a mark of
the members of the covenant people from Genesis 17, and of the Passover
tradition from Exodus 12-13. Thus, in Joshua the entry of the people into
the promised land is seen as the culmination of much earlier promises and
more recent experiences of liberation.

The stories in Joshua 1-12 also speak of Israel’s activities
once they have entered the promised land. They serve as the theological/causal
explanations for various customs or landmarks which are of importance later
in Israel’s story and life. Josh 5:9-12, today’s reading, concerns the
significance of circumcision for the people. The verses immediately preceding
today’s text indicate that Joshua is to circumcise ‘the children of Israel’
a second time (v. 2). It is made clear what this meant. The command was
for those who had been born along the way, during the forty years wandering,
to be circumcised. The explanation seems to be that it was the Lord’s desire
for the generation that came out of Egypt, which turned out to be a rebellious
one, to pass away and be replaced by a new generation. That new generation,
which had not been circumcised while on exodus, was now to receive that
sign of the covenant people (cf. Genesis 17). It wasn’t simply a matter
of catching up on a requirement which in certain circumstances could not
be fulfilled. In Joshua 5 there is the sense that the Lord is beginning
again with a new generation of the people. A new generation now in the
promised land makes a fresh commitment to the Lord. With the return to
covenant allegiance came the restoration of Israel in the eyes of the Lord
(‘This day I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’, v. 9).
Once more the people bore the sign of allegiance to the Lord, which was
the complement of freedom from slavery to an oppressor. They are ready
to make decisions as God’s people.

Verse 10 makes it plain that the rite of circumcision
is related to the second ritual observance mentioned in this text, the
celebration of Passover. The two rituals are now practiced for the first
time in the promised land, and in such a way that draws their past stories
together. Since the people left Egypt, the Passover ritual had not been
observed. In the wilderness, the only ‘bread’ available was
the ‘manna’ provided by God. Now that they were in the land promised to
them, they had grain to make unleavened bread. Through these two rites,
the people could celebrate their freedom and reconciliation with the Lord
in a great feast of thanksgiving. The Passover was now to be celebrated
as a commemoration of the Lord’s rescue of the people from bondage. Moreover,
the land that gave Israel the grain to make the bread for the Passover,
had been granted to them by the Lord, the fulfilment of that promise long
ago. The Lord provided the means whereby the people could celebrate and
mark their release from captivity.

The writer then makes the final comment (v. 12) that the
very next day after the first Passover in the promised land, the manna
by which the people were fed in the desert ceased. The manna had been the
Lord’s provision during the time they were waiting for the promised land.
Even when the people were disobedient, and complained against the Lord,
the manna never failed. Even when they had turned away from the covenant,
and as a consequence had been lost in the wilderness, the Lord remained
faithful to them and provided for them. Now as they come into the land
itself there is provision in a new, permanent way.

The people had returned to the land of Abraham’s sojourning,
and a great feast had been prepared. Through repenting their disobedience,
they had eventually been led back ‘home’. When they awoke the next morning,
the disappearance of the manna was a reminder that all along they had been
led and fed by their God. They celebrated the faithfulness of a God who
liberates from slavery in demeaning circumstances, who redeems the repentant
from sinfulness, who forgives, who restores the lost into full relationship,
and who celebrates their return.

The themes of this text from Joshua are clearly recognizable
in the Lectionary Gospel reading set for this week, Jesus’ story of the
Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11b-32). Jesus’ story is clearly shaped by the experience
of the ‘lost’ children of Israel – the lost and reclaimed children of the
forgiving God.